Robert Vaughn - IMDb IMDb Actor | Director Robert Francis Vaughn was born on November 22, 1932 at Charity Hospital in New York City, the son of show business parents, Marcella Frances (Gaudel) and Gerald Walter Vaughn. His father was a radio actor and his mother starred on stage. Robert came to the public's attention first with his Oscar-nominated role, in The Young Philadelphians (1959). ... See full bio » Born: a list of 41 people created 24 Jun 2012 a list of 38 people created 16 Feb 2013 a list of 23 people created 16 Jul 2013 a list of 24 people created 19 Dec 2013 a list of 27 people created 05 Feb 2015 Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Robert Vaughn's work have you seen? User Polls Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations. See more awards » Known For The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Napoleon Solo / Thrush Double (1964-1968) - December Solstice (2015) ... Walter Briggs - Clock (2006) ... Tate Speer 2014 Playhouse Presents (TV Series) Iris 2008 Little Britain USA (TV Series) Paul Getty II 2008 The Verdict (TV Movie) Lucius 1999 The Sentinel (TV Series) Vince Deal - The Real Deal (1999) ... Vince Deal 1999 Recess (TV Series) 1996-1997 Diagnosis Murder (TV Series) Alexander Drake / Bill Stratton 1996 Walker, Texas Ranger (TV Series) Dr. Stewart Rizor 1995 Burke's Law (TV Series) William Shane 1994 Tracks of Glory (TV Mini-Series) Mr.

Morris 1993 Danger Theatre (TV Series) Host 1990 Dark Avenger (TV Movie) Commissioner Peter Kinghorn 1985 International Airport (TV Movie) Captain Powell 1985 Private Sessions (TV Movie) Oliver Coles 1984 Deadly Nightmares (TV Series) Dr. Christopher Hamilton 1983 Intimate Agony (TV Movie) Dave Fairmont 1983 Silent Reach (TV Mini-Series) Steven Sinclair 1981 The Love Boat (TV Series) Charlie Paris 1980 City in Fear (TV Movie) Harrison Crawford III 1980 The Gossip Columnist (TV Movie) Mark Case 1980 Doctor Franken (TV Movie) Dr. Arno Franken 1979 Mirror, Mirror (TV Movie) Michael Jacoby 1979 The Rebels (TV Movie) Seth McLean 1979 Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) Sebastian Rolande 1978 The Islander (TV Movie) Sen.

Gerald Stratton 1972 The Woman Hunter (TV Movie) Jerry Hunter 1963 77 Sunset Strip (TV Series) Douglas Milinder 1963 The Untouchables (TV Series) Charlie Argos 1963 Boston Terrier (TV Movie) A. Dunster Lowell 1963 The Virginian (TV Series) Simon Clain 1963 G.E. True (TV Series) Earl Rogers - Defendant: Clarence Darrow (1963) ... Earl Rogers 1962 Bonanza (TV Series) 1962 Kraft Mystery Theater (TV Series) Bill Gardner 1962 Cain's Hundred (TV Series) Phillip Colerane 1961 87th Precinct (TV Series) Sordo 1961 Follow the Sun (TV Series) Albert / Ralph Borden 1961 Target: The Corruptors (TV Series) Lace 1961 The Asphalt Jungle (TV Series) Warren W.

Scott 1961 The Aquanauts (TV Series) Wes Grayson 1961 Stagecoach West (TV Series) Beaumont Butler Buell 1958-1960 Wagon Train (TV Series) Roger Bigelow / Roy Pelham - The Dark Trail (1960) ... Sandy Kayle 1960 Checkmate (TV Series) 1960 Men Into Space (TV Series) Perry Holcomb 1960 The Rebel (TV Series) Asa Bannister 1960 Alcoa Theatre (TV Series) Lt. Dave Hutchins 1959 Wichita Town (TV Series) Frank Warren 1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) Art 1959 The Lineup (TV Series) Bart Wade - Prelude to Violence (1959) ...

Bart Wade 1959 Riverboat (TV Series) 1959 State Trooper (TV Series) George Jones 1959 Schlitz Playhouse (TV Series) Buddy Baldwyn 1959 Frontier Doctor (TV Series) Stan Gray 1957-1959 Playhouse 90 (TV Series) Earl Randolph / Steve Sprock - The Troublemakers (1957) ... Steve Sprock 1959 Bronco (TV Series) - Borrowed Glory (1959) ... Sheriff Lloyd Stover 1959 Zorro (TV Series) 1958 Jefferson Drum (TV Series) Shelly Poe 1958 Mike Hammer (TV Series) Hank Barlow - Double Identity (1958) ... Frank Elliot 1958 Dragnet (TV Series) 1956-1957 Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) Billy Jack / Johnny Adler 1956 Father Knows Best (TV Series) Mr.

Beekman 1956 The Millionaire (TV Series) Joseph Jameson 'Jay' Powers 1956 West Point (TV Series) Cadet Hameroff Spearman / Hebrew at Golden Calf (uncredited) 1956 Frontier (TV Series) 1956 Screen Directors Playhouse (TV Series) Archibald Parker 1956 You Are There (TV Series) Soldier 1955 Lux Video Theatre (TV Series) Frank 2009-2014 Loose Women (TV Series) Himself 2005-2009 This Morning (TV Series) Himself - Guest 2008 MGM's Secret Operations (Video documentary short) Himsel / Napoleon Solo 2008 U.N.C.L.E.

V.I.P.S.: Season 4 (Video documentary short) Himself 2008 Hustle the Hard Way (Video documentary short) Himself 2007 The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2007 The View (TV Series) Himself - Guest 2005 2005 TV Moments (TV Movie) Himself - Presenter 2005 T-Rex: A Dinosaur in Hollywood (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2004 Richard & Judy (TV Series) Himself - Guest 2002 Hollywood History (TV Series documentary) Himself 2000 Into Africa (Video documentary) Himself 1998 E!

True Hollywood Story (TV Series documentary) Himself 1997 WCW Monday Nitro (TV Series) Himself 1986 NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration (TV Special documentary) Himself 1985 The Making of 'Superman III' (TV Movie documentary) Himself / Ross Webster (uncredited) Himself - Nominee: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special 1979 Everyday (TV Series) 1978 Over Easy (TV Series) Himself - Episode #2.138 (1975) ... Himself (as Robert & Linda) - Episode #2.137 (1975) ... Himself (as Robert & Linda) - Episode #2.136 (1975) ... Himself (as Robert & Linda) - Episode #2.135 (1975) ... Himself (as Robert & Linda) - Episode #2.134 (1975) ...

Himself (as Robert & Linda) 1973-1975 Match Game 73 (TV Series) Himself - Panelist 1974 The $10,000 Pyramid (TV Series) Himself - Celebrity Contestant 1973-1974 The Hollywood Squares (TV Series) Himself 1968 Vergißmeinnicht (TV Series documentary) Himself 1968 The Hollywood Palace (TV Series) Himself - Sketch Actor 1967 Italy's in Season (Short documentary) Himself (filming "The Venetian Affair (1967)") 1967 Tienerklanken (TV Series) 1967 Firing Line (TV Series) Himself - Guest 1963 Stump the Stars (TV Series) Himself - Guest Panelist 1961 Here's Hollywood (TV Series) Himself Himself - Nominee: Best Actor in Supporting Role Hide 2016 2016: We Remember Part Two (TV Movie documentary) Various Characters 2015 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series) Napoleon Solo 2014 A Football Life (TV Series) Himself 2

011 Pioneers of Television (TV Mini-Series documentary) Guest Star on Episode of Police Woman - Crime Dramas (2011) ...

Guest Star on Episode of Police Woman 2008 How the West Was Lost (TV Movie documentary) Lee (uncredited) 1967 Beat! Beat! Beat! (TV Series) Himself - Host / Musician 1961 Frontier Justice (TV Series) Billy Jack Personal Details Other Works: Thesis on Hollywood entertainers who were blacklisted during the McCarthy House Un-American Activity trials of the 1950s as "Only Victims: A Study of Showbusiness Blacklisting". Originally published in hardback in 1972 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. Was reprinted in 1996 in paperback. See more » Publicity Listings: 1 Print Biography | 1 Portrayal | 10 Interviews | 2 Articles | 2 Pictorials | See more » Alternate Names: Robert & Linda | Napoleon Solo | Robert Vaughan Height: Did You Know? Personal Quote: [on why he was happy that he shared co-starring duties on his series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

(1964)] I had a lot of good friends, particularly David Janssen , who never had any life at all, they were just doing television series and doing publicity about television series and that was it. He was the sole star of the shows that he did. See more » Trivia: Had appeared in episodes of three different series with David McCallum : The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1965) and The A-Team (1983). See more » Trademark: Distinctive smooth but often menacing voice. Star Sign: The Magnificent Seven - iSnare Free Encyclopedia The Magnificent Seven For the 2016 remake, see The Magnificent Seven (2016 film) . For other uses, see Magnificent Seven . The Magnificent Seven The Magnificent Seven is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Charles Bronson , Yul Brynner , Horst Buchholz , James Coburn , Brad Dexter , Steve McQueen , Robert Vaughn , and Eli Wallach .

[3] The film is an Old West -style remake of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese masterpiece Seven Samurai . Brynner, McQueen, Buchholz, Charles Bronson , Robert Vaughn , James Coburn , and Brad Dexter [3] portray the title characters, a group of seven gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits and their leader (Wallach). The film's musical score was composed by Elmer Bernstein . In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [4] Contents 10 External links Plot A poor village in Mexico is periodically raided for food and supplies by Calvera ( Eli Wallach ) and his bandits . After he and his forty men's latest raid, during which they kill a villager, the village leaders decide the situation cannot continue. They discuss it with the venerated elder ( Vladimir Sokoloff ) who lives just outside the village, and he recommends they fight back.

Taking what meager objects of value the village has, a delegation rides to a town just inside the United States border hoping to barter for weapons to defend themselves with. Once there they approach Chris Adams ( Yul Brynner ), a veteran Cajun gunslinger. Chris suggests they hire gunfighters to defend the village, which would be cheaper than buying guns and ammunition. He cautions the village men that once they actively resist Calvera they will have to keep killing until all the bandits are dead. At first Chris agrees only to help the delegation find capable men, but later he decides to recruit and lead them. Despite the poor pay offered, he is able to find five gunmen, all doing it for their own reasons.

The other men include the gunfighter Vin Tanner ( Steve McQueen ), who has gone broke after a round of gambling and jokes that he may have to accept a position as a store clerk; Chris's friend Harry Luck ( Brad Dexter ), who believes Chris knows about hidden treasure near the village; Bernardo O'Reilly ( Charles Bronson ), a gunfighter of Irish-Mexican heritage who has fallen on hard times; Britt ( James Coburn ), an expert in both knife and gun who joins purely for the challenge involved; and an on-the-run gunman Lee ( Robert Vaughn ), haunted by thoughts that he has lost his nerve and taste for battle. On their way to the village they are trailed by the hotheaded Chico ( Horst Buchholz ), an aspiring gunfighter whom Chris had, previously humiliated by rejecting him. Now impressed by his persistence, they invite him to join the group. Arriving at the village, they have the villagers build fortifications and also begin to train them to defend themselves. Each finds himself befriending particular villagers. Chico is pursued by Petra ( Rosenda Monteros ), one of the village's young women.

(Village elders had hidden all the young women, fearing the gunfighters might rape them, but Chico had stumbled across their hiding place.) Bernardo bonds with some of the village's boys. [5] [6] Lee, struggling with nightmares and fearing the loss of his skills, is comforted by other residents. Harry presses the villagers for information about any treasure. Later, when Bernardo points out the seven are consuming almost all the food in the village, the gunmen share their meals with the village children. Calvera and his bandits arrive, sustain heavy losses in a shootout with the seven and the villagers, and are run out of town. Hilario ( Jorge Martínez de Hoyos ) and Vin, guarding against another possible attack, briefly discuss nerves on the eve of battle. Vin admits he still feels them, and confesses further that he envies Hilario for having an honourable cause to fight for. Chico, who is Mexican, partly from recklessness and partly to impress the others, follows Calvera back to his camp, pretending to be one of the bandits. He learns that Calvera must raid the village soon because he and his men are desperate for food. Chico reports this to Chris.

Some of the village men, made fearful by this information, believe the gunfighters should be told to leave. Even some of the seven waver: Vin is of two minds; and Harry argues they were hired merely to put up enough resistance that Calvera would move on to an easier village. But Chris insists that they stay, even threatening to kill anyone who suggests giving up the fight. They ride out to make a surprise raid on Calvera's camp, but find it abandoned. Returning to the village, they find that some villagers have allowed Calvera and his men to sneak in and take control. Calvera spares the seven's lives, believing they have learned that the simple farmers are not worth defending. He also fears reprisals from the gunfighters' friends north of the border. While gathering their things before departing, Chris and Vin talk of how they had become emotionally attached to the village, and might have been tempted to give up their careers as gunmen and settle in such a place. Bernardo gets angry with the boys he befriended when they call their parents cowards.

Chico raves against the villagers and how much he hates them, and when Chris reminds him he is of just such peasant stock he angrily responds that it is men like Calvera and Chris who made the villagers what they are. The seven gunmen are escorted some distance from the village, where their weapons are returned to them. They debate their next move and all but Harry, who believes the effort will be futile and suicidal, agree to return and fight. Harry rides off alone. Returning to the village, the six gunmen are able to get well within it before being detected. A gunfight breaks out, with the villagers joining in the fight.Harry, who has had a change of heart, arrives in time to prevent a cornered Chris from being killed but is himself fatally shot. Before his death, Chris comforts him by saying there was indeed a fortune hidden in the village. Lee finds the nerve to burst into a house where many are held captive, shooting the bandits guarding them before he is gunned down. Bernardo is shot protecting the boys he befriended; with his last breath he tells them to look at how bravely their fathers are fighting. Britt dies after shooting at a considerable number of bandits but exposing himself from cover.

Chris manages to shoot Calvera, who asks him, "You came back... to a place like this? Why? A man like you? Why?" He dies without receiving an answer. The remaining bandits take flight. The three surviving gunmen help to bury the dead, then ride out of town. At the top of the hill overlooking the village they stop to look back. Chris says adios to Chico, both having realized his proper place is in the village, with Petra; she is overjoyed when she sees he has returned. Chris and Vin chat with the venerated elder. He bids them farewell and says that only the villagers have really won: "You're like the wind, blowing over the land and... passing on... ¡Vaya con Dios!" As they leave, they pass the graves of their fallen comrades. Chris says, "The Old Man was right. Only the farmers won. We lost. We'll always lose." [7] [8] Cast Val Avery as Henry the Corset Salesman Bing Russell as Robert, Henry's Traveling Companion Brad Dexter was cast at the urging of Frank Sinatra , who knew Sturges well, because Dexter had saved Sinatra's life when the two were swimming off the coast of Hawaii.

James Coburn was a great fan of the Japanese Seven Samurai, having seen it 15 times, and was hired through the help of co-star and former classmate Robert Vaughn, after the role of the expert gunslinger had been rejected by actors Sterling Hayden and John Ireland . [9] Sturges was eager to cast Steve McQueen in the picture, having just worked with him on the 1959 film Never So Few , but McQueen could not get a release from actor/producer Dick Powell , who controlled McQueen's hit TV series Wanted Dead or Alive . On the advice of his agent, McQueen, an expert race car driver, staged a car accident and claimed that he couldn't work on his series because he had suffered a whiplash injury and had to wear a neck brace. During the interval required for his "recuperation", he was free to appear in The Magnificent Seven. [10] Pre-production Yul Brynner approached producer Walter Mirisch with the idea of remaking Kurosawa's famous samurai film.

But once Mirisch had acquired the rights from Japan's Toho Studios , and finalized a distribution deal with United Artists , Brynner was sued for breach of contract by actor Anthony Quinn , who claimed that he and Brynner had developed the concept together and had worked out many of the film's details before the two had a falling-out. Quinn ultimately lost his claim, because there was nothing in writing. [11] Script credit was a subject of contention. Associate producer Lou Morheim commissioned Walter Bernstein , a blacklisted scriptwriter , to produce the first draft "faithfully" adapted from the original script written by Shinobu Hashimoto , Hideo Oguni and Akira Kurosawa ; when executive producer Walter Mirisch and Brynner took over the production, they brought on Walter Newman , whose version "is largely what's on screen." When Newman was unavailable to be on-site during the film's principal photography in Mexico, William Roberts was hired, in part to make changes required by Mexican censors. When Roberts asked the Writers Guild of America for a co-credit, Newman asked that his name be removed from the credits.

[12] Production Filming began on March 1, 1960, on location in Mexico, where both the village and the U.S. border town were built for the film. The location filming was in Cuernavaca , Durango , and Tepoztlán and at the Churubusco Studios . [13] The first scene shot was the first part of the six gunfighters' journey to the Mexican village, prior to Chico being brought into the group.[ citation needed ] During filming there was considerable tension between Brynner and McQueen, who was displeased at his character having only seven lines of dialogue in the original shooting script. To compensate, McQueen took numerous opportunities to upstage Brynner and draw attention to himself, including shielding his eyes with his hat, flipping a coin during one of Brynner's speeches, rattling his shotgun shells, and hanging low from his horse to drink from a stream. Brynner, who was only half an inch taller than McQueen, would often build up a little mound of earth to stand on when the two actors were on camera together, only to have McQueen surreptitiously kick the dirt out of place before retakes.

When newspapers started reporting on the altercations on set between the two, Brynner issued a press statement, declaring, "I never feud with actors. I feud with studios." [14] Years later Buchholz said Brynner had put a stop to McQueen's antics by telling him the next time he tried his upstaging tricks he, Brynner, would simply remove his hat to get back the spotlight for good. (Brynner is one of the most legendary bald men in film history.) The film was shot in Panavision , an anamorphic format . Score The film's score is by Elmer Bernstein . Along with the iconic main theme and effective support of the story line, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, such as the reference to Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra , second movement, in the tense quiet scene just before the shoot out. The original soundtrack was not released at the time until reused and rerecorded by Bernstein for the soundtrack of Return of the Seven. Electric guitar cover versions by Al Caiola in the U.S. and John Barry [15] in the U.K. were successful on the popular charts.

[16] A vocal theme not written by Bernstein was used in a trailer . In 1994, James Sedares conducted a re-recording of the score performed by The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, which also included a suite from Bernstein's score for The Hallelujah Trail , issued by Koch Records ; Bernstein himself conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for a performance released by RCA in 1997, but the original film soundtrack was not released until the following year by Rykodisc. ( Varèse Sarabande reissued this album in 2004.) Main Title and Calvera (3:56) Council (3:14) Calvera Killed (3:33) Finale (3:27) Bernstein's score has frequently been quoted in the media and popular culture. Starting in 1963, the theme was used in commercials in the U.S. for Marlboro cigarettes . A similar-sounding (but different) tune was used for Victoria Bitter beer in Australia. The theme was included in the James Bond film Moonraker .

Other uses include in the 2004 documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11 ; in the 2005 film The Ringer ; as entrance music for the British band James , as well as episodes of The Simpsons that had a "Western" theme (mainly in the episode titled " Dude, Where's My Ranch? "). The opening horn riff in Arthur Conley 's 1967 hit " Sweet Soul Music " is borrowed from the theme. Canadian band Kon Kan use the opening bars of the theme in their single " I Beg Your Pardon ". Celtic Football Club (Glasgow, Scotland) used the theme music whenever Henrik Larsson scored a goal. The Mick Jones 1980s band Big Audio Dynamite covered the song as "Keep off the Grass" (although this cover was not officially released). In 1995, the KLF also did a drum and bass cover of the main title as " The Magnificent "; it was released under the group alias One World Orchestra on the charity compilation The Help Album . In 1992, the main theme of The Magnificent Seven came into use on a section of the Euro Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland Paris .

Portions of the theme play as the train exits the Grand Canyon diorama tunnel behind Phantom Manor , enters Frontierland , and travels along the bank of the Rivers of the Far West . The "Main Title" was used as an intro tune on many nights of Bruce Springsteen 's 2012 Wrecking Ball Tour . The theme was played as the E Street Band entered the stage, adding to the dramatic atmosphere in the stadium. Reception Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film a "pallid, pretentious and overlong reflection of the Japanese original"; according to Thompson, "don't expect anything like the ice-cold suspense, the superb juxtaposition of revealing human vignettes and especially the pile-driver tempo of the first Seven." [17] According to Variety magazine's December 31, 1960 review, "Until the women and children arrive on the scene about two-thirds of the way through, The Magnificent Seven is a rip-roaring rootin' tootin' western with lots of bite and tang and old-fashioned abandon.

The last third is downhill, a long and cluttered anti-climax in which The Magnificent Seven grow slightly too magnificent for comfort." [18] Akira Kurosawa, however, was reportedly so impressed by the film that he presented John Sturges with a sword. [19] At the 33rd Academy Awards , the score was nominated for Best Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture , losing to Ernest Gold 's score for Exodus . Many decades later, however, the score for The Magnificent Seven was listed at No. 8 on the American Film Institute 's list of the top 25 American film scores . The film has grown greatly in esteem since its release, largely due to its cast (several of whom would go on to become superstars over the decade following its release) and its music score. As of 2012, it has a freshness rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes . [20] It is the second most shown film in U.S. television history, behind only The Wizard of Oz .[ citation needed ] The film is also ranked No. 79 on the AFI's list of American cinema's 100 most-thrilling films .

Sequels and adaptations The film was a box office disappointment in the United States, but proved to be such a smash hit in Europe that it ultimately made a profit. [2] [21] Three sequels were eventually made: Return of the Seven (1966), Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969), and The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972). None were as successful as the original film. The film also inspired a television series, The Magnificent Seven , which ran from 1998 to 2000. Robert Vaughn was a recurring guest star, a judge who hires the seven to protect the town in which his widowed daughter-in-law and his grandson live. The 1980s action-adventure series The A-Team was initially devised as a combination of The Dirty Dozen and The Magnificent Seven. [22] The show's pilot film plays much on the plot of The Magnificent Seven, and there are similar plot echoes in various other episodes.

James Coburn was originally approached to play John "Hannibal" Smith , the team's leader, a role that ultimately went to George Peppard in the series; and Robert Vaughn was added to the cast in the final season as part of a revamp attempt to boost fading ratings. View All Critic Reviews (40) Audience Reviews for The Magnificent Seven Whether or not a film is remade or just simply takes place within the same genre, people come to expect certain things when seeing a familiar storyline. Nowadays, people complain that there are far too many remakes of classic films, but what they don't realize is that there are quite a few remakes from the past as well. Today for example, the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In is released, only to be remade a year or so later as an American film, retitled Let Me In. This has been done since the very beginning of cinema. With that on the table, 1960's The Magnificent Seven followed directly in the footsteps of the 1954 Japanese samurai film, Seven Samurai. Did it improve on anything that the Akira Kurosawa version failed to achieve? Lets talk The Magnificent Seven (1960).

Following the events from Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterpiece, it was already clear there was a high bar to match. Although I did not try to see the differences throughout this version, it was very hard to ignore the fact that there are some lines of dialogue literally delivered verbatim. The film begins with a group of bandits who threaten to return to terrorize the town if they do not have their food handed over to them upon their return. Therein lying the issue, a group of seven horsemen/gunmen are recruited to take down these bandits upon their return. It is a very simple story with great characters. That is almost exactly what my description was for Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which is both a good and bad thing in my opinion. This film utilizes everything that made the original Japanese film a masterpiece, but also trims off about 80 minutes of story. Although I had no complaints about the original telling of this story, The Magnificent Seven was able to trim off about 80 minutes from the original story, making for a much smoother film experience. That being said, the character development in Seven Samurai was much deeper, so for every positive, I also found a negative.

On the bright side, watching men laugh over drinks, fire guns, and ride horses for the majority of the film is much more exciting then watching a ten minute scene of two samurai warriors talking about the future battle. That being said, Seven Samurai also utilized those scenes in a way that sucked its audience into every line of dialogue being spoken. While The Magnificent Seven does have a lot of great character moments, it tries to introduce new characters as the film progresses and you really only find yourself latching onto two of the main characters. Worth every minute of waiting through set-ups and promises, The Magnificent Seven delivers, without a doubt, one of the most exciting shootouts in any western that I have seen. No, it doesn't live up to classic moments like that of The Good he Bad and the Ugly, but I am not trying to compare classics here. Sitting through every great character arc and moment of redemption, you feel a sense of fulfillment once the final battle occurs. There is so much excitement to be had while watching this picture, and for any western fan, there really is not much more you could have asked for at the time.

In the end, 1960's The Magnificent Seven is a well-made western picture, that without the original Japanese version, would not have been made. For that reason alone, I have to dock a few points. Does this film deliver fantastic and loveable characters? Absolutely. Does it deliver on awesome shootout sequences? You bet it does. Does it feel far too similar with not enough differences to Seven Samurai? Sadly, that is also a glaring yes. Still, being a fan of the western genre, I can say that much care and time was put into the making of this film and it shows in the final product. There are a few cheesy lines and performances throughout, making it hold up even less than its Japanese version, but it is still a great watch after all these years nonetheless. The 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven is pure western entertainment. Recommended to any fans of this genre. KJ Proulx Super Reviewer Yul Brynner leads an all star cast as seven gunman are hired to defend a tiny farming villages from los banditos locos. There's no money to be had while facing impossible odds, so why do it? Why risk your life?

The film gives us reason to care about the answer in what many consider one of the great Westerns. Kevin M. Williams Super Reviewer An entertaining Western remake of Kurosawa's samurai classic and, like that film, more concerned with developing its characters and letting them grown on us instead of just focusing on the battle, while the great cast and Bernstein's score make it epic and unforgettable. Carlos Magalhães Super Reviewer Based on a story by Akira Kurosawa, starring Yul Brinner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Eli Wallach, directed by John (The Gunfight At The OK Corral/The Great Escape) Sturges and accompanied by one of the best musical scores ever written, and you have the ingredients for possibly the perfect old school western. Poor old Horst Buchholz didn't stand much of a chance up against an ensemble cast of this quality, but he makes a decent fist of a character who is essentially an amalgam of two characters from Seven Samurai, which makes way for Vaughn's gunslinger who has lost his nerve and slots seamlessly into the action.

It does take a more popular culture slant on the original's more arthouse sensibilities, but it works perfectly. Brinner and McQueen make a brilliant double act and it even adds a more upbeat ending without failing to retain the spirit of the source material. One of the very few examples of a remake that is almost as worthwhile as the original. xGary Xx Robert Vaughn, the original Man From UNCLE – EW.com Pinterest Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images If you’re under the age of 50, it’s possible you aren’t even aware that Guy Ritchie’s new Cold War spy thriller The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is another Hollywood reboot. Henry Cavill plays Napoleon Solo, a Mad Men-era secret agent who becomes reluctant partners with Armie Hammer’s Soviet superspy after a rogue organization threatens the world with a live nuke. But Robert Vaughn was the original Napoleon Solo, an American 007 in the age of Kennedy. For four seasons beginning in 1964, he teamed with David McCallum’s Ilya Kuryakin and helped the secret United Network Command for Law and Enforcement organization thwart evildoers named with Bond-like acronymns like T.H.R.U.S.H.

Riding the wave of Bond mania, the show became an instant hit for NBC before flaming out nearly as quickly, but it left a mark on the culture — and certainly on Vaughn’s career. Now 82, Vaughn had been nominated for an Oscar in The Young Philadelphians and appeared in The Magnificent Seven, but playing Solo made him a household name. He would go on to a steady career, with popular highlights that included reuniting with his Magnificent Seven costar Steve McQueen in Bullitt and playing the villainous corporate titan in Superman III. If you think the new U.N.C.L.E. gives off the vibe of a more playful Bond film — one of the Roger Moore’s installments, perhaps — well, you’re right. And Vaughn, who recently appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, explains that the original show was conceived in much the same way, with Ian Fleming’s blessing. Fifty years later, the proud grandfather is still plenty pleased with his days as an international man of mystery. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: U.N.C.L.E. made you famous, but where were you in your career when you signed on to play Napoleon Solo?

ROBERT VAUGHN: I was a working actor, but I wasn’t a negotiating actor. By that I mean, I got the job and I went down and did the job. I couldn’t ask for first-class tickets. I couldn’t ask for outstanding housing. I couldn’t do anything of that nature. But it all changed with Napoleon Solo. The first James Bond film was 1962, Dr. No., and your show started in the fall of ’64. Obviously, there was some pop-culture cross-pollinating there. How was the show pitched to you? Well, I’ll tell you how it came about. I was doing a television series called The Lieutenant, about the Marine Corps. Gary Lockwood was the star, and I played his commanding officer, Raymond Rambridge. We were filming one afternoon and I got a note saying there’d be a script for me at the artists’ entrance of MGM. The name of the script was Solo, and Norman Felton, who was the producer of Dr. Kildare and The Eleventh Hour — and a friend of Ian Fleming‘s incidentally — wanted me to meet him at 9 o’clock the following morning after I read the script.

Well, I was unmarried at the time, and so was Gary, so we just went out on the town, went up and down the Sunset Strip. We had a few drinks, and hooked up with a few ladies and I didn’t get home until about 5 o’clock in the morning. And my wake-up call was 6:30. So basically I read the script on the way to the studio at red lights. So I got there and I went to see Mr. Felton. He said, “What do you think?” I said, “Well, it looks to me like it’s James Bond for television.” He said, “Shhh, don’t say that, don’t say that.” You hinted at it… but Ian Fleming had some input, yes? Ian Fleming and Norman Felton were friends. U.N.C.L.E. was basically a tongue-in-cheek Bond. It wasn’t quite as serious and dramatic as Bond, nor did we have the budget for that. The pilot was titled Napoleon Solo. When did it change from that to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? I’m not quite sure. The pilot was filmed under the title of Solo.

Incidentally we started filming on my birthday, which was Nov. 22, which was the day Kennedy was killed. It was a very hard beginning for the pilot. I can’t even imagine how surreal that must have been. Well, after three or four days of trying to shoot the pilot, we just shut down and waited until the funeral was over. Was the Soviet character played by David McCallum always a major part of the idea or did that evolve? Kuryakin was in the [original] script as a very tiny part. I think he only had three lines or something like that. Eventually, of course, he evolved into an equal costar of the show. He became the blond Beatle for early teenage girls. Which was fine with me; I had a lot less work. [Laughs] Watching you play Solo, it looks like great fun. What did you love about the character? Felton said to me, “My suggestion to you is, whatever you think works for women for you, use that on the screen.” Well, I’m not sure if I know what works for women. If I did, I’d never be acting — I’d be out working women all the time.

[Laughs] Anyway, that was kind of the thrust of the thing: Give it your own sense of humor, and whatever you think makes women attracted to you, do that. So that’s what I tried to do, basically. TV today is so sliced and diced that if a show gets 3 million viewers, it can actually be a hit. But back in the ’60s, 20-25 million people watched some of the primetime shows. How did that fame change your life, if it did? It did, very much so. Almost within the first month, I notice cars being parked in front of where I lived on Mulholland Drive. There were girls waiting to take a gander at my mug, I guess. That just continued to expand until the show became No. 1 — it was actually only one week that it was No. 1 in the country, when it beat out Bonanza and McHale’s Navy and a bunch of other shows. But then the producers, and NBC, and Chevrolet, and MGM all got together, and they decided they wanted to do some variation on The Green Hornet or Batman or something like that, and the show went away from being smart and clever in the way of Bond.

It became silly. It became more campy, right? Too campy. It went off the air. And we didn’t even know. One Friday afternoon, this was the last show we were shooting, and we absolutely astounded, because we had just been No. 1 in the Nielsen’s. But that’s how television goes, at least in those days. Did the cast push back against those changes? There was definitely push back from David McCallum and myself. We kept saying, “This is silly.” It had always been semi-serious, semi-comedic, but it was never supposed to be silly, like Batman or The Green Hornet. Those were successful shows, in terms of marketing, but I thought it was the demise of Napoleon Solo. The show seemed to be even more popular in the U.K., then and now. Well, there was a reason for that. We did two-hour shows. One hour and then the second half of the show would air the following week. MGM designed these shows so they could splice together a two-hour movie that could be released as a feature film around the world. And the additions to the feature films was they always had bare-breasted women, which of course we didn’t have on television.

And they were literately outgrossing the Bond films in London and places like that, with 90 percent less budget. For several years, there was talk to resurrect these characters and this style of spy movie for the big screen. Have you been following those beats along the way? Every couple of years, I would get a call from Warner Bros. usually saying, “Would you be interested in doing a movie version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.? And my answer was, “Of course.” But it never did happen until recently. Did you have any conversations about being part of this one? No. Just the question was [routinely] posed, “Would you be interested?” And the answer was always, “Yes.” You know, one of the stars of the new film — in fact, the star who plays Napoleon Solo is Henry Cavill, who also plays— Superman. Robert Vaughn: the long ride from U.N.C.L.E. to Auntie - Telegraph Stars and Stories Robert Vaughn: the long ride from U.N.C.L.E. to Auntie How did Robert Vaughn, once the world’s favourite TV spy, end up as a familiar face on the BBC? David Gritten asks him.

Vaughn with Steve McQueen in the classic thriller 'Bullitt' Photo: Photofest Image 1 of 2 Smooth operator: Robert Vaughn as conman Albert Stroller in the BBC series 'Hustle' Photo: Amanda Searle 4:32PM GMT 06 Mar 2009 'I’ve made somewhere around 150 pictures,” Robert Vaughn says with a sigh, “and a lot of them are B-pictures, I can tell you that. I’d say there’s about one hundred of them I don’t remember.” Few of us do. A glance at Vaughn’s lengthy CV yields a host of forgotten titles: Hangar 18; Transylvania Twist; Pootie Tang. But a handful of his roles had astonishing impact. He was the dandyish gunfighter who had lost his nerve in the classic western The Magnificent Seven (1960), in which he co-starred with Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner. In Bullitt (1968) he reunited with McQueen, playing a cynical, ambitious politician.

Above all, in 100 memorable television episodes, he was Napoleon Solo in The Man From UNCLE, a light-hearted spy spoof (roughly modelled on James Bond), which paired him with David McCallum, playing the handsome young Russian agent Ilya Kuryakin. The show became a global hit. Britain embraced Solo and Kuryakin warmly. “UNCLE was bigger here than it was in America,” says Vaughn. “Apart from its one-hour episodes, we also did eight two-hour shows, some of which were released outside America as movies. They tried to sex them up a little, brought in some bare-breasted women. Several of these movies played in Leicester Square – and outgrossed the Bond movies!” Vaughn, intelligent and articulate, had no reservations about playing such a tongue-in-cheek role: “Not only was it a great deal of fun, it changed me from being a working actor to a negotiating actor. After UNCLE, I never accepted the first offer: if I wanted more money, I asked for it. A better dressing room? Four first-class tickets instead of two?

I’d ask for them, and I’d often get them.” Related Articles Chaplin by Simon Louvish - review 06 Mar 2009 Vaughn is in Britain to promote a new autobiography, A Fortunate Life, which traces his life and long career. It includes his liberal political beliefs, his theories about acting, and is littered with film industry anecdotes. It manages to be serious, good-humoured and appreciative of his life: “With a modest amount of looks and talent and more than a modicum of serendipity,” he writes, “I’ve managed to stretch my 15 minutes of fame into more than half a century of good fortune.” He is 76 now, and looks fit. His hair, mostly silver rather than the jet-black of his prime, still culminates in a luxuriant quiff. Vaughn, of course, is no stranger to Britain: for five years he has starred in the BBC series Hustle, the sole American in a cast playing a group of con artists. His character is the veteran Albert Stroller, who brings potential victims of complex scams to the attention of his cohort.

“We shoot Hustle for 12 to 16 weeks,” he says, “so that’s how long I’m here each year. I’ve always loved London. I lived here for three years back in the Seventies, when I did a TV series, The Protectors, for Lew Grade.” (This was also when he met his wife Linda, when she acted in one episode.) “Hustle is wonderfully enjoyable, because all my life I’ve made an effort to be with people who can make me laugh. That original cast – Marc Warren, Jaime Murray, Robert Glenister and Adrian Lester – are all funny. So I know every day I’ll have a few good laughs.” Those many people who revere The Magnificent Seven will be alarmed by Vaughn’s account of it. Far from being a brilliantly conceived western, it was, he says, “complete chaos. There had been a writers’ strike in Hollywood, and all (director) John Sturges knew was that he was going to remake the classic Japanese film The Seven Samurai. Sets had been built in Mexico, but there was no script, and only two actors, Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, had been cast.

“So when Sturges met me, he actually asked if I knew any other good actors. I called my best friend James Coburn, who was hanging out with a chick, smoking dope in Greenwich Village, and told him: 'Get out here fast!’ He had no money, and had to borrow some from his parents. But he made it.” As Vaughn tells it, the actors sat around most of the time playing poker. Much of the script was written on set: “We’d be told one evening 'tomorrow we’ll be doing this scene’, and that night carbon copies of the script pages would be slid under our doors. We spent a lot of time complaining about working on such a rotten picture.” How wrong can you be? The film became a massive success, thanks largely, he believes, to Elmer Bernstein’s immortal theme tune. Vaughn now has it as his personal ringtone; when he’s out shopping and it rings out (duh-DUH-duh-duh, duh-duh-DUH-duh-duh) passers-by stop dead in their tracks. The Magnificent Seven was also the start of his friendship with McQueen. “Not an easy man,” he says tactfully.

But after he finished playing Napoleon Solo, McQueen offered him the secondary role in Bullitt. Again, Vaughn misread the film’s tremendous appeal: “I told McQueen on two or three occasions, 'Steve, I don’t think this is going to be good. This is the first picture you’re producing, the script makes no sense, why are you wasting your time?’ I requested script changes, and every time they made them they paid me a little more money. It was my first six-figure payday. I told Steve: 'This picture’s starting to look better and better to me!’ “Anyway, it became a huge hit – the seventh-highest grossing picture of its year, with a classic car chase. So I was wrong yet again!” Vaughn’s major breakthrough was in The Young Philadelphians (1959), playing opposite Paul Newman. His character was an alcoholic socialite, wrongly accused of murder, and he was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor. He might have broken through two years earlier, having landed a role in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) as a musician whose romance with a young woman incurs the displeasure of her brother, a vicious gossip columnist (Burt Lancaster).

“I imagined this guy as a rock-and-roll singer, and had started practising my moves,” Vaughn recalls. “But then Uncle Sam came calling, and I was drafted into the army.” He might also have been more determined to carve out a major film career had politics not intervened. In the late Sixties, Vaughn was a close friend of Senator Robert Kennedy and was influential in Democratic Party anti-war circles. After Kennedy was assassinated, Vaughn headed to Prague just in time for the Russian invasion, narrowly escaping with his life when the Soviets surrounded his hotel with tanks. His political interests were no mere dalliance. He also took time out from his career to study for a PhD with a dissertation on the Hollywood blacklist during the McCarthy era. This was subsequently published as Only Victims, the first major book on the subject. Vaughn regrets none of it. “It’s been a rich time,” he says. “And serendipity has mostly worked in my favour.” 'A Fortunate Life’ (JR Books, £18.99) is out now Vaughn's brilliant career

Question: Which American actor starred in the film 'The Magnificent Seven' and on TV in 'The Man From Uncle'?
Answer: Robert Vaughn